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Last fall, as the panic heated up, hardly anyone had heard of Meredith Whitney. ``I guess my clients knew who I was,'' she says, ``but the rest of the world -- I don't think so.''

One of the rare inspirational subplots of our current financial panic has been the rise of Meredith Whitney. An obscure and little-noticed analyst of Wall Street banks, working for an obscure and little-noticed Wall Street bank (Oppenheimer & Co.), Whitney has become, in a matter of months, a woman who moves markets.

It all started back on Oct.... See more

Working for a smaller firm, and largely unnoticed, she had nothing to lose from making wild, negative predictions. If she was wrong, no one would pay her any attention; if she was right, she'd be famous.

Now, six months later, she's probably the most feared analyst on Wall Street. The rise in her status is truly sensational, and due, largely, to a single prediction. On Oct. 31, 2007, she was right, and the world was wrong.

How on earth does that happen? I can think of several possibilities.

1) Meredith Whitney is the only analyst on Wall Street wil... See more